


Princess

by orphan_account



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 20:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19383988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “There’s a girl,” says Eddie, “isn’t there?”Seth thinks of the increasingly graphic fantasies he’s been having about Kate. In most of them, she’s wearing her white doctor’s coat and nothing else.“I dunno what you’re talking about, Eddie.""Kid, you're full of it up to your eyeballs."





	Princess

**Author's Note:**

> For an anonymous tumblr prompt. Was sorely tempted to title it _Puppy Love_ , but I RESISTED. If you're looking for plot, you've come to the wrong place. 
> 
> Just a head's up: given the nature of the prompt, this fic contains non-explicit allusions to past animal neglect.

Dr. Katherine J. Fuller doesn’t look old enough to be a college freshman, let alone a veterinary school graduate, but the framed credentials on the wall indicate otherwise. Maybe it’s a Doogie Howser thing, or maybe she’s just got one of those faces. What the fuck does Seth know?

Well. He knows that he’s way out of his fucking depth, at least.

The door to the exam room swings open, and Dr. Fuller walks in with the puppy cradled in her arms. Its ears prick when it spots Seth, stubby little tail giving a tentative wag that just about breaks Seth’s grouchy old heart. It seems a lot more alert than it did when Seth found it. That’s a good sign, right?

“She was a perfect angel,” Dr. Fuller informs Seth, stroking her fingers absently through the puppy’s short, bristly fur. That stubby little tail wags a bit harder. “She behaved herself the whole time we were giving her fluids.”

Seth drags the corners of his mouth into a smile. “Glad to hear it,” he says, even as part of him questions the reasons for the puppy’s good behavior. Does she have an even temperament, or was she just too out of it to bother snapping her sharp little teeth at the vet and her technicians?

“I’d like to keep her overnight for observation, though, just to be safe—if that’s alright with you, Mr. Gecko.”

 _If that’s alright with you_ , she says, as if her tone didn’t imply that it better damn _well_ be _alright with him_.

“Yeah,” says Seth, ignoring the twinge in his chest that heralds the oncoming separation anxiety. Not only is he way out of his depth, he’s already in way too deep. “Sure. Whatever you think is best, Doc.”

Dr. Fuller’s pretty face softens, losing the stern cast it wore when she all but ordered him to do what was best for the puppy. “Have you thought up a name for her yet? It’s alright if you haven’t—we’ll just label the kennel with yours.”

“Yeah, I…” Seth stares down at the puppy, who blinks back up at him with wide, trusting, gray-blue eyes. He was never any good at thinking up names, which is probably a contributing factor in why he’s never owned a pet (Uncle Eddie’s goldfish don’t count). “I’m at a loss, to be honest.”

“That’s alright,” Dr. Fuller says with a kind of cheerful confidence, hugging the puppy closer to her chest ( _Lucky puppy_ , Seth thinks, then quashes the thought). “I’m sure one’ll come to you.”

Seth wouldn’t be so sure about that. Hell, he’s not even sure if he’s gonna keep it. He rescued it— _her_ —from the side of the road, and isn’t that enough? He did his good deed for the month. The veterinary clinic can just transfer her to the local Humane Association or some other no-kill shelter, and someone else—someone who’s got their shit together—can adopt her and give her a good home.

Except. Except, she’s small and cute _now_ , but she’s still a pit bull, and what if some asshole adopts her only to leave her by the side of the road again when she gets too big and scary looking?

Shit.

“Alright, so, I gotta…” Seth scratches at his hairline, then scrubs his palm down his face. Jesus, how is this his life? “I guess I gotta go buy her a collar and shit. And, uh, food?” Jesus, he doesn’t know jack squat about dog food brands. He knows that the one with _Blue_ in the name’s supposed to be the high-end shit, but beyond that, he’s fucking stumped.

Dr. Fuller tilts her head at him. She looks like a kid, but she’s gotta be good at what she does to have gotten into veterinary school in the first fucking place. From what Seth understands, it’s even harder to get into than plain medical school. She’s gotta be smart as hell, so she’s got to see that Seth’s fucking floundering over here.

Great. Just what he needs: to look like a fucking idiot in front of a pretty young woman who’s a decade younger than him _at least_. Way to go, Gecko. Your shit turd father would be proud.

“I clock out in an hour,” Dr. Fuller says slowly, like she’s thinking out loud, still scratching the puppy between her floppy ears. “Can you wait that long, or do you have somewhere you need to be?”

Seth stares at her, and she smiles back at him like they’re sharing a secret. In her arms, the puppy gives a soft, questioning yip.

Did Seth say he was in way too deep? Yeah. That doesn’t even begin to fucking cover it.

 

* * *

 

Being the goddamn fucking idiot that he is, Seth almost mistakes the cat collars for the puppy collars until Dr. Fuller gently steers him in the right direction. From there, he’s faced with narrowing his choices down.  

And, Jesus, but there are so many goddamn choices. Why are there so many color options, for starters? Aren’t dogs colorblind or some shit?

Seth holds up a rhinestone-studded baby-pink color and squints at it dubiously. Honestly, it looks like something that the white kitten from _The Aristocats_ would want to wear. That’s good, right? Means it’s classy.

Dr. Fuller leans against their shopping cart. She looks amused, probably at Seth’s expense. “Do you like that one?”

No, not really. Actually, he prefers the dark blue one with the words _Bad to the Bone_ stitched into the nylon. “I mean, pink’s for girls, right?”

Dr. Fuller rolls her eyes, which is how Seth knows he said something stupid. “She’s a _dog_ , Mr. Gecko. She doesn’t know what gender roles are and she doesn’t care. If you want to get her the blue collar, get her the blue collar.”

Oh. So she noticed him looking at it, huh? Mouth twisting sardonically, Seth returns the pink collar to the rack and snatches up the blue one. The doc’s right: the puppy probably can’t even _see_ the color pink, and even if she _could_ , she wouldn’t care.

The store’s PA system crackles with some announcement that Seth can’t make out. Dr. Fuller selects a metal tag shaped like a milk bone and holds it up for Seth’s inspection, and when he shrugs and nods, she drops it into the cart with the rest of Seth’s shit. “They do custom engravings here, so we— _you_ can get your contact info printed on one side and her name on the other.”

Yeah, if he could _think_ of a name. “Alright.”

Dr. Fuller points the cart in the direction of the dog food aisle, and Seth follows her at a trudging pace, feeling a bit like a little kid whose mother has dragged him to the grocery store. Except for the part where he keeps checking out the good doctor’s ass.

Look, it’s a really nice ass, okay? And those jeans are doing her curves all kinds of favors.

_Shit. Focus, Gecko. Think of the puppy._

“You know,” says Dr. Fuller, and Seth fights back a guilty little jump, “pit bulls have a bad rap, but if you raise them with love and patience, they can make excellent pets.”

She sound so goddamn _earnest_ that Seth can’t even get snarky and ask her which pamphlet she stole that line from, so he just smiles wryly and says, “You always this optimistic, Doc?”

Dr. Fuller smiles brightly back, white teeth gleaming in the PetSmart’s ugly fluorescent lighting. “I like to see the good in animals—and people. And it’s Kate.”

“Huh?”

“I’m off the clock, so you can call me Kate.”

Seth’s wry smile unfurls into a grin. Fuck him, but she’s adorable enough to give the puppy a run for its money. “Guess that means you can call me Seth. Mr. Gecko’s my dad.” _Was_ his dad, anyway.

Dr. Fuller— _Kate_ beams at him when they shake hands. Her fingers are small and fine boned, and her palm is soft. Definitely the kind of hand that Seth could trust a neglected puppy to.

One of the myriad knots in his stomach unravels.

Yeah. That puppy’s in real good hands.

 

* * *

 

Seth expects Kate to relegate this kind of thing to one of her minions, so he’s mildly surprised when the good doctor herself walks into the exam room with the puppy nestled in her arms. The puppy’s eyes are bright and alert, and her gray coat is clean, and when she sees Seth, she gives an excited little bark.  

Yeah. He’s fucked.

“Aw, did you miss your daddy?” Kate croons, and Seth nearly fumbles the puppy when Kate hands her over. “I just bet you did!”

Seth always thought it was kind of weird when people referred to themselves as their pets’ parents, but he’s not gonna complain. If he did, he’d look like a dick.  

(He _is_ a dick, but the doc doesn’t need to know that.)

Seth hugs the puppy to his chest. He bought a pet carrier at the PetSmart last night, one with a mesh exterior and a soft, carpeted bottom, but part of him wonders if it would be safe to let her loose inside his car. Probably not. Maybe when she’s older and has learned to control her bladder.

“Don’t forget to schedule her first checkup on your way out,” Kate says brightly, reaching out to scratch the puppy between her ears. Her knuckles bump Seth’s sternum, and he has to tamp down the urge to snatch hold of her hand and clutch it to his chest.

But he doesn’t, because that would probably qualify as sexual harassment.

“Will you, uh, be the one doing the checkup?” Shit, he’s usually better at this. _Richie’s_ the one who can’t talk to girls without putting his whole foot in his mouth. “I think she likes you, so.”

Going by the shy slant of Kate’s smile, she damn well _knows_ that the puppy isn’t the only one who’s taken a liking to her.

 

* * *

 

Richie takes one look at the puppy and goes, “Does this mean I can get a cat?”

“No,” Seth says immediately.

“Why not? Cats are cool.”

“Never said they weren’t. I don’t got a problem with cats. I don’t trust _you_ to keep a houseplant alive, let alone a whole-ass pet.”

Richie opens his mouth—probably to wear this argument down to the bone—but then they both get distracted when the puppy pees on the carpet.

 

* * *

 

It’s very possible that Seth didn’t think this through.

“No pets in the shop,” Uncle Eddie says in his _and that’s final_ voice.

“C’mon, Eddie, I can’t just leave her at home,” Seth argues, praying to God or Whoever that Eddie will take him seriously even though he’s got a thirty-five-dollar fleece pet bed with cartoon hot dogs printed on the sides clutched in his arms. “And it’s not like I can ask Richie to watch her.” Because, a) Richie works the same hours as him, and, b) he _still_ doesn’t trust his brother to keep a houseplant alive

“It’ll scare the customers,” Eddie insists.

“Fuckin’ _look_ at her, Eddie. She couldn’t scare off a newborn kitten, let alone a grown-ass adult.” And she’ll probably look scarier when she’s older, but she really _is_ as quiet and docile as Seth first thought she was. That’s gotta balance things out, right?  

“She’ll scare the customers,” Eddie repeats, although the swapped pronoun isn’t lost on Seth.

Looking around the empty TV repair shop, Seth says, “ _What_ customers?”

Eddie squints at him from under his bushy eyebrows. “You buckin’ for early retirement, kid?”  

If. Only. “C’mon, Eddie. Just until I find a pet sitter, please?”

Eddie looks from Seth to the puppy that’s sitting quietly at his feet and back again. Then he scoops the puppy up and examines her from up close. Her tongue darts out to lick her own nose, and Eddie’s beard twitches.

“Daddy’s little princess, huh?” Eddie drawls, but then he tucks the puppy under his arm and heads down the hall to his office.

Seth smirks at Eddie’s retreating back. _Princess, huh?_

Well, hell. It’s as good a name as any.

 

* * *

 

Seth doesn’t get Kate for Princess’s first checkup. He gets a tall, hot lady who’s nice to his dog and mean to him, and once the frankly harrowing examination is over and done with, he goes slinking into the waiting room with a sense of abject fucking relief.

And spots Kate by the front desk, talking quietly to one of the receptionists. She laughs at something the other girl says and tucks a lock of dark hair behind her ear.

“Hey.” Seth sidles up to Kate with Princess trotting at his heels, her hard little nails clicking on the tiled floor. “I don’t think your coworker likes me much.”

Kate smiled when she first saw him, but now she gives him wide eyes. “You mean Kisa? Are you sure you’re reading her right? She’s always super professional.”

Professional in a mean way, maybe. “Yeah, well, this little shit right here missed you, so.” Seth picks Princess up and holds her out for Kate’s inspection. Kate giggles when the puppy licks her face, and, yeah. Seth can relate.

Not that he wants to lick Kate’s face. That would be weird.

It’s possible that he’d like to lick other parts of her body, though.

And then Kate asks, “Was she the only one who missed me?”

Ignoring the receptionist’s knowing look, Seth says, “When do you clock out, again?”

 

* * *

 

“Sit,” Seth tells Princess. She wiggles her butt but otherwise stays standing, and Seth sighs hard through his nose.

“Have you tried giving her treats whenever she does it right?” Kate asks him, kneeling in the park’s damp grass to pet Seth’s horribly undisciplined puppy (maybe this is karma coming back to bite him for all those times he acted like a little shit when _he_ was a kid). “Positive reinforcement usually works.”

“Can’t exactly reward her for doing it right when she never _does_ it right,” says Seth.

“I’m sure the two of you’ll get it eventually.” Coming from anyone else, it might sound like a meaningless platitude, but from Kate, it sounds genuine.

Like he thought before: she’s just so fucking _earnest_.

“Yeah,” says Seth, because you know what? He actually believes her. “Guess we will.”

Kate pushes to her feet and pulls a bag of treats out of her purse. Princess perks up, tail wiggling, mouth parting.

Holding a treat just out of Princess’s reach, Kate says, gently but firmly, “Sit.”

And with no goddamn hesitation, Princess plunks her ass right the fuck down. Kate stoops to feed her the treat, cooing, “Good girl, that’s a good girl.”

With effort, Seth picks his jaw up off the ground and says, “Hey. What fucking gives?”

Kate wipes doggy drool off on her jeans and straightens up. “Maybe she just likes me best,” she teases, and Seth thinks, totally involuntarily, _Can’t fucking blame her_.

And then Princess hops to her feet and runs in a tight circle around him, twisting her leash around his legs until he loses his balance and trips, and Kate laughs at him so hard that _she_ falls on _her_ ass.

Serves her right.

 

* * *

 

Princess is sprawled across Eddie’s lap, dressed in the stupid purple tutu and _Don’t Mess with Texas_ shirt that Richie bought her, having the time of her goddamn life.

Eddie squints at Seth through beady, perceptive eyes. “There’s a girl,” he says, “isn’t there?”

Seth thinks of the increasingly graphic fantasies he’s been having about Kate. In most of them, she’s wearing her white doctor’s coat and nothing else.

“I dunno what you’re talking about, Eddie. Princess is the only woman in my life.”  

Eddie mumbles something about Seth being full of it up to his eyeballs, then goes back to rubbing Princess’s belly.

 

* * *

 

Seth’s working a shift behind the register at Eddie’s shop and filling the idle hours with rounds of _Candy Crush_ , which is standard. Princess is asleep in her bed behind the counter, which is new. It doesn’t dwarf her as much as it used to; the little shit’s been growing like a weed.

At least she’s finally mostly potty trained. 

The bell above the door jingles, and Seth looks up from his phone with a dull kind of surprise. The dull surprise flares into outright shock, though, when he sees who it is.

“Hey.” Kate hefts a plastic bag. “Will you be breaking for lunch soon?”

Seth’s pretty sure he mentioned where he works in passing—probably even told her the days he works, too—but he didn’t actually expect her to show up here.

Thank fuck Richie’s off sick.

“I can break for lunch right now,” Seth tells her, even though it’s barely ten in the morning. Not like the customers are pouring in, demanding his time and attention. He slides his phone into his pocket and steps out from around the counter, hands twitching like he wants to grab her—which he kind of does.

Kate rattles the plastic bag; there’s a PetSmart logo printed on the side. “Happy anniversary.”

Uh. What? Kate knows that Seth’s got an _ex_ -wife, so who the hell would he be celebrating anniversaries with—

Oh.

“With Princess,” Kate clarifies, even though Seth’s already gotten it. “You’ve had her for three months.”

Three months. He already knew that, vaguely, but it’s something else entirely to have it laid out in front of him like this.

Jesus. Three fucking months.

“So, here.” Kate holds the bag out, and Seth accepts it in a kind of daze, discarding it on the counter after he’s pulled out what was inside.

And then he just kind of. Stares.

Kate twitches her shoulders up and down, teeth sinking into her lower lip. “She’ll need a new collar soon with the way she’s been growing. And it’s blue, see? Like the old one. And this one’s got her name on it, so—”

Seth kisses her, one hand curling over her shoulder, the other still clamped tight around the dog collar. He slides his fingers beneath the curtain of her hair and wraps them around the smooth nape of her neck, and Kate sighs and mumbles something that sounds a lot like, _“Finally,”_ against his lips.

And Seth might’ve proceeded to scoop her up and disgrace her on the countertop, if not for the warm weight that leans itself against his legs, fussing for attention.

Kate pulls off Seth’s mouth, looks down, and laughs. Princess is staring up at them with wide, curious eyes that peek out from the hood of her little fleece doggy jacket. It’s not cold out or anything, but she gets chills.

“Someone’s jealous,” Kate teases, and Seth starts laughing, too. He picks Princess up and cradles her to his chest, the heat in his stomach flaring when he looks at Kate. Her gorgeous green eyes are bright, and her cheeks are flushed with stubble burn. Goddamn, is she something.

Kate’s smile pulls wider, showing teeth. “Does this mean you’re finally gonna ask me out?”

Seth answers _that_ question with another kiss, getting poor Princess squished between them.

When Eddie wanders out of his office, his victory cry of “I FUCKIN’ _KNEW_ IT” is loud enough to be heard in the next county over.


End file.
